Communications networks, including wireless communications networks, may utilize channel coding and error correction techniques to reduce the incidence of errors and improve reliability when transmitting signals between nodes. A transmitting node may encode a signal to include certain redundancies according to an error-correcting code. If any errors appear in the signal at the receiving node, it may use the redundancies to correct the signal without requiring re-transmission. Channel coding and error correction techniques can be applied to situations where the cost of re-transmission is unfeasible, such as in one-way communication links where it is not possible for a receiver to request re-transmission of a signal from the transmitter. While increasing the amount of redundancies helps to improve signal reliability, it comes at the expense of reducing the effective bandwidth of information that is transmitted. Accordingly, efficient and versatile channel coding and error correction schemes are desired.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.